Any American Mumsnetters around?

And let's not forget there was a border bill on offer. It got torpedoed because Trump didn't want it to happen under Biden's watch.

I won't say that everyone who voted for Trump was a fascist. But a lot of them believed lies about inflation. Biden's administration isn't "widely considered a failure" at all. It's considered a failure by conservatives. Your opinion reflects the narrowness of your sources. They emphasize the immigration crisis and ignore the fact that post Covid inflation was significant everywhere. US inflation was lower than Europe's. Our housing crisis is largely caused by local government policies that prevent building housing where people need it.

plenty of his voters are now saying "I didn't vote for this". He told them he wouldn't implement project 2025 and he went and did it. He said that because he knew Project 2025 polled poorly.

Trolling Canada is unjustifiably stupid, and Canadians really do believe he wants to take over. It's destroying our reputation with our closest neighbour, and needlessly so.

he does not have sole power over all agencies. The courts have ruled against that in the past. He wants to implement unitary executive theory and politicise the civil service. We have a trade imbalance with Canada because we have 330M people and they have 41M. Of course we import more. Per capita, they do.

Try living north of the border with the idiot Trump constantly threatening your country. He has zero understanding of how tariffs and trade works - his technique is to bully others into submission. He isn’t going to get Canada, Greenland or Panama - they aren’t his to have and why on earth we would want to be the 51st state amazes me - we’d be trading down to a lesser quality of life with totally different cultures, value , language and lifestyle.

He has caused deaths in Ukraine by withdrawing intelligence sharing but now wants everyone to worship him for creating world peace! He’s alienating America so that’s only allies are Russia and Israel.

America is likely to be in a recession shortly having crashed the stock markets. Hopefully Trump voters will soon wake up and see what they have got themselves into. As for his comments on the Gaza and converting into the Riviera are disgusting and he will be remembered for supporting ethnic cleaning.

At the risk of coming across as a Trump apologist; Trump does not want Canada. No one in the US "wants" Canada. The US has a hell of a lot of minerals, oil, etc. all by itself. Trump is, I think, trolling Canada. Bullying Canada, if you will. Hell, I could be wrong. Maybe he wants it. I just can't see why a Republican (self identified, anyway) would want to add another state the size of California, and far more Left, to the US.

I realize the UK paid its war debt. I do wonder, though, if inflation is factored into that deal. I borrow $5 from you in 1935 and repay $5 in 2000, it's not exactly the same $5. And I mean that, I wonder. Maybe the UK paid interest that adds up to the modern monetary equivalent. I just don't know.

The UK and Western Europe was always in the firing line of the USSR. That's why NATO originated. Not for nothing did the UK join NATO. If the UK was concerned about being in the firing line, the UK should have sat it all out. Like Sweden. But I doubt the UK had that option. I think the USSR probably saw the UK as an enemy. I would have if I were Khruschev. It was us against them in those days. All of us. With or without a US presence, I doubt London would have been any safer from nukes than Washington.

If you look it up, I think you will find that the US has been, by far, the most generous nation on earth to all of the earth. I'm guessing that a lot of that has to do with projecting soft power rather than anything altruistic. Still works, though. People still get fed. People still get clean water. People still get medicine. It is not all just minerals and deals and greed. I think you will also find that US citizens, independent of the government, actually are, by world standards, extremely altruistic on a personal, albeit distant, level. By that I mean American individuals donate a hell of a lot of money to overseas causes but are less forgiving when it comes to, for example, American drug addicts. That's my take, anyway.

Of course the US has given but it has also made money. The War Debt has been paid over many years and the last payment was only made in recent years. Yes America has supported other countries but usually where some source of self interest was apparent - usually oil or minerals. Of course we have been grateful but we have also supported them in such endeavours as the Iraq War. We have also been important to them as a convenient place for the establishment of military bases within Europe despite our being put in the firing line. There has always been a Ying and Yang in our association with the US but this looks to be shattered at.least for the foreseeable future. As for poor Canada, well when you are neighbours with a dog who sees you possess some juicy bones then watch out if he is orange and deranged.

American Conservative here. Long post. Probably not worth reading. You have been warned.

Here is my take on all that has gone and all that is happening. I do not pretend to have any special insight, but I come from a large purple western state that went for Trump, and I like to ask people questions. Please do NOT infer that I voted for Trump... or that I even voted at all.

Here is my objective view.

First, though: This notion that the only people who voted for Trump are either uneducated white hillbillies or "fascists" is ridiculous. It was exactly that sort of scoldy name calling that played a role, I think, in Harris losing the election. I believe that the political middle simply got sick and tired of hearing that. "If you don't agree with all we say, you're either an idiot or a fascist or a racist or...". I know many well educated, well grounded, down to earth people who voted Trump. They are neither stupid nor "fascists". To reduce Trump's win in November to being the result of stupidity or right wing fascism is simply following the same tired old trope that, as I said, in part, cost Harris a victory. I would drop that line of thinking. It's a lazy oversimplification. Trump made significant inroads into the BIPOC electorate and that would be hard to do for someone perceived as either an "ist" or "phobe" of one kind or the other. I know gay people who voted for Trump. I know at least two trans people who voted for Trump. I know a guy who came to the US illegally in the '90s and he's the biggest Trumper I know. It's just not that idiotically simple to pin down what a Trump voter is.

Second: Felony convictions. No one I know, right or left, believes in those. Everyone I know, right or left, sees those as nothing more than unprecedented Banana Republic style lawfare by a weak, feeble and failing President Biden attempting to use the courts to take out a political opponent. That's all anyone sees that as. Every time Trump got indicted, his poll numbers went up. It was a horrible strategy by the Biden administration and backfired badly.

The Biden administration seems to widely be held as a complete failure. I can go into details if anyone is interested. Harris inherited that mantle. She ran a horrible campaign. I can go into details about that as well.

Whatever the hell Trump campaigned on, he will move heaven and earth to deliver. I believe that. I think it's just part of his psychological makeup. He HAS to be a winner. And being a winner means making it all come true. Then he can say, "See? Told you I could do it. I'm the only one who could do it. I'm the best!" One of the things Trump ran on was ending the war in Ukraine. So, in Trump's view, he will by-God end it. Doesn't matter what apalling Oval Office spectacle it takes. Doesn't matter if it means having to stroke Putin's dick. Trump said it and therefore it MUST happen. That is how I see Trumps mentality.

I believe Trump sees the rest of the West as basically using the US as a money tree. Hence the reciprocal tariffs. The US, as I understand it, has about a $50 billion trade imbalance with Canada due to Canada charging US companies tariffs while, in return, getting a free ride from the US. By all means, fact check that. I could certainly be wrong. Trump will in no way, shape or form tolerate the perception (or misperception) US being economically taken advantage of. It's not in his make-up. It would be intollerable.

NATO, the EU and the UK: In 2017 Trump was within an inch of leaving NATO. People had to be sent to Europe (where he was at the time) to talk him off that ledge. Trump sees NATO partners as parasites who have steadfastly refused to meet defense obligations while relying on the US taxpayer to foot the bill. Given Vance's speech in Munich, I also think he sees the EU as abandoning foundational liberal democratic principles. If he thinks those two things are the case, I can see him questioning the value in having an alliance with Western Europe. I can, however, see him abandoning Western Europe to its fate. Or, hell, it is Trump afterall, manipulating Western Europe into towing the line.

I don't know many Americans who have any clue that there was a "special relationship" between the US and the UK. I don't know many Americans who have ever given a single thought, in their entire lives, to the UK at all. I work with all sorts of Americans: White, black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian... you get the picture. Most just swim through their small lives like all of us do. They worry about their kids' educations, whether or not they can afford a ski boat, should they go to Mexico to see family in April or wait til June? Stuff like that. Ukraine, NATO, Israel, Putin the Canada tariffs or the insecurity of the UK... all white noise to them. Irrelevant.

Finally near the end: The US Federal government does not work like many on this forum seem to think. Trump does not get every little thing his own way just because the Republicans have both Houses and the Supreme Court. The Dems can absolutely filibuster in the Senate and block any and all legislation (lucky for them they didn't kill the filibuster like they talked about doing). The Justices are rabidly independent and many's the time MAGA has gone nuts because Gorsuch or Barrett or one of the other Conservatives have gone against the MAGA narrative and sided with the Liberals. I read a lot of case law, and I'm often astonished at the 9th Circuit (a notoriously Liberal Federal Appeals Court) when it has rendered a "right wing" decision. (Sidebar: I read a post on this forum decrying "politically appointed judges". That, for me, was rich. Coming from someone who lives in a country where ALL judges are appointed (think there's no politics in that?) All of my State judges are elected. All of them.)

Where Trump has power is over all of the Federal Agencies. They fall within the Executive Branch of the government and he is the Caeser of that branch. He also controls the State Department. That means, short of declaring war (takes an act of congress) he sets the tone and says what's what when it comes to international relations... more or less, congress and the courts have some say in some of it.

Well, if you made it this far, congrats! I doubt I would have. Remember, this is just one American's opinion. America is huge and the diversity of opinions on all of this reflects that size. I am one person, as I said, in a large purple state who likes to know what his fellow citizens are thinking. I don't really have a "bubble" of like-minded folks I only speak with. I like to get all sides. However, talk to an American from, say, Manhattan and you could get a completely different and equally valid take.

The problem is that democracy is not designed to cope with an egotistical maniac who ignores all rules.

No safety system is proof against deliberate malice. This is why the wiser of the rebels reminded us that "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance". The problem being that vigilance - like safety equipment, guardrails, inspections and standards - costs money.

The problem is that democracy is not designed to cope with an egotistical maniac who ignores all rules.
Nothing short of violence is going to stop trump.
I agree with the pp about only giving him a small t. In fact I think I shall refer to him as fart from now on.

I think that the US is now an oligarchy. I live in the UK and the won't be visiting anytime soon.

You’re right that they don’t have enough votes to get legislation through, but the question was about the Democrats and why they aren’t stopping things. They don’t have enough votes to do anything except filibuster. So yes Trump is avoiding congress. But the outcome is the same; Congressional Democrats can’t stop what he’s doing right now.

the GOP has unified control of the government

If that were true, then Trumps one bigly beautiful bill would be law by now.

The real truth is the GOP is totally splintered and you will have little cabals of representatives who will leverage their wafer-thin majority in order to pursue their own grifts. Which may - or may not - alight with Trumps.

The house is in a similar state to the last Tory government. Where there were enough headbangers to threaten the parliamentary majority so Sunak was forced into a permanent compromise.

Which is why Trump wants to make Congress an irrelevance. (And they are doing a good job of helping him).

And WTF is it with politically appointed judges ? Whoever thought that was a good idea ? Clearly fucking idiots, that's who.

Being non American I can take a pop at the founding fathers .... remember their mission was to ensure that landowners kept their land. All else was fine words and parades.

Right now, a bunch of Trump voters are mad because they didn't believe he'd do what he said he'd do, and did believe him lying when he said he didn't believe in Project 2025. A bunch of them wanted him to cut other people's jobs but not their own. The LeopardsEatingFaces subreddit is hopping.

the Republican strategy is to lie and avoid their constituents. When they did the town halls were extremely angry. So they then claimed they were bussed-in Democratic agitators.

Elon and Doge are decidedly unpopular.

as for the debt? Their plans are $4.5Tin tax cuts and $2.5T in spending cuts so they clearly don't care. Moreover they want to cut the IRS because poor little rich people. It will save less money than it will cost in lost revenue. This has nothing to do with economic sanity.

Two things are happening with checks & balances.
one is that the GOP has unified control of the government and they've also appointed most of the Supreme Court justices at this point.
two is that part of the checks are the courts. Trump has not been doing well there, loaded court aside, but it takes time. He's also ignored a couple of court rulings and we have no mechanism for dealing with that.

what he is doing is issuing executive orders and moving too fast for the system to keep up. He's also using a new and untested theory called the unified executive, which states that the president has full control of the executive branch -- under which all agencies fall. By this argument he can do whatever he wants and fire everyone. So far the courts have been skeptical.

it's a bit like asking why the Tories don't stop Labour benefit cuts.

37 Trillion and counting!

i did not expect Trump
yo win. I am disguster but not surprised. I am so ashamed and worried.

@LuckyPeonies
Where are the Democrats in all this? From where I'm sitting this looks like a coup. Where are the checks and balances that the US is famed for? There are unelected officials causing havoc. Isn't DT making those people born in the US from non US parents apply for citizenship or be repatriated or something. Isn't that against the constitution? Where is the fight back?

It's not like household debt. You'll see, they'll be plenty of money for the richest in the US to have lots of tax cuts.

I mean of course, what's happening would be funny if it weren't so awful....not JFK's address...

Jkf inaugural address.

It's about US response to the Cold War and international co operation. God, it would be funny if it weren't so bloody awful.

i don’t know because I don’t engage with Trump supporters. My husband has a friendship with one of our neighbors and they have agreed not to talk politics. they have argued about it in the past.I don’t think the neighbor has a problem with what Trump is doing. My brother-in-law told my husband that project 2025 was just propaganda before the election. All the people that my husband works with are Trump supporters.He can’t escape it. They think that he is the stupid one for not liking him. Thank God neither of our parents are Trump supporters. Honestly, most days I could just scream and cry about it. I am so frustrated with these people. I don’t agree with anything that Trump does.

But it's not that simple is it. We've had a longest period of world peace and that's because of the US' military and financial strength. We , and the US included will probably descend into WW3 because of this frankly idiotic administration. The really terrifying thing is that this time the US will side with Russia. The lifestyle of US citizens will change potentially forever. The US has made a ton of cash out of their role, so it's not all one way traffic.

Also, I really don't think the rest of the West sneer at the Americans or their culture. I'd say we love it and can't get enough of it.

@user1471492582
Are your neighbours happy with what they see? The Doge firings, the cuts to Medicare, the tariffs, the threats to Canada. I don't honestly expect them to give a hoot about Europe and our relationship.

Yes, but the midterms are only for the house of representatives, plus 1/3 of the senators. The Awful Orange Offal will be with us, assuming his dementia doesn't get to him, until 2028.

Midterms are in 2026...

I live here, and I'm not surprised at what he's done. The way he's done it, however, is shocking, though completely aligned with the crassness and vulgarity you would expect.

But I think that is purposeful. He is deliberately showing his contempt for all the norms of political conduct and diplomacy, thus encouraging members of his cult to disregard all forms of human decency. So we get toxic masculinity all over SM, contempt for women and what is seen as feminine values, with self-identified "Christians" spitting on the idea of empathy.

And it is all about power and self aggrandisement. He sees no boundary between his person and the office he holds, has no regard whatsoever for the constitution, and I suspect if enough judges uphold lawsuits against his decrees, his flying monkeys will start beating the drums and baying "treason".

I'm glad I have my Irish passport and that my DCs have theirs.